I am currently sitting at Aquapulse, the new aquatic centre in Hoppers Crossing, Victoria, typing this blog post. My 12 year old daughter Georgie and her friend Natalie are screaming down the giant waterslide as I type! I am sitting high up in the tiered seating area looking ridiculous, all rugged up for winter, with my laptop on my knee, while everyone else is strutting around in their bathersI This is all rather weird but such are the weekend pursuits of a hard working Primary Art Teacher!!! Multi tasking is my middle name!!!

aquapulse waterslide hoppers crossing victoria Australia

I don’t know what Pablo Picasso himself would think of these face collages below but I just love them.

Pablo Picasso Picture

picasso altar boy

Picasso Mother

First of all I showed the grade 4 students a range of portraits created by Pablo Picasso which I had on my Pinterest board, on the projector. I also had several Picasso portrait prints hanging up in the art room. The students happily discussed how interesting they were and how his portrait style had changed over time. Why do you think Pablo Picasso displaced so many facial features in his portraits? How does this make you feel? What about his use of colour? A portrait is usually a likeness of another person. What does this say about the displacement of the facial features on these portraits? Well done Grade 4s for your fabulous discussions!

Picasso

Picasso Dora Maar

Picasso

We also briefly looked at Weeping Woman as she is very famous in Melbourne as the National Gallery of Victoria owns her and she was stolen from the gallery in 1986. You can read more about that here.

Weeping Woman Picasso National Gallery of Victoria

National Galery of Victoria water wall

Anyway, after looking and discussing I explained to the students that they were going to be creating their own Picasso style collage. In the past I had done this activity with grade 4 and just got them to draw a Picasso-ish face and I had also done this activity using cut out facial features from magazines. Both times before the students had stated that drawing or putting the facial features into the wrong positions was extremely difficult to do.

Zart Art Face Pack Paper

This year I had discovered this paper on the Zart Art website and knew it would be perfect for this activity.

Grade 4 Picasso simple collage 2015 1

Grade 4 Picasso simple collage 2015 2

So the procedure was

Collect A4 cartridge paper from the resource table.

Draw a head and neck on the A4 paper nice and large. (What do we say – FILL THE SPACE!)

Colour the face using oil pastels. Natural skin tones were optional and up to the individual artist.

Select and cut out desired facial features carefully from Zart Art sheets (that had already been trimmed down into quarter of their A3 size – hey, I’m not silly! And don’t massacre twenty seven eyes just to get to the one you want in the middle of the sheet. Cut out carefully and place leftovers from sheet you are cutting back into the EYES plastic pocket so somebody else can use them! Yes, sometimes the instructions have to be this basic to protect the expensive materials!)

How many facial features can you have? How many do you need? Why? “I want more than one mouth because my person talks a lot!” “I need to give my person 5 ears ’cause they always listen to gossip!”

Glue your facial features into their displaced positions.

Is your person bald? What are you going to do about hair?

Cut out your person carefully and mount them on an A4 piece of coloured cover paper.

Grade 4 Picasso simple collage 2015 3

Grade 4 Picasso simple collage 2015 6

Most of the grade 4 students are now working on their next collage which is again based on Picasso’s portraits but A3 size, incorporating different types of cardboard to create (hopefully) layered facial features! I will write up a blog post on these when they are done.

I have found that making sure I put an article into every school newsletter is a big commitment but now I have been doing it for quite a while, they are an effective avenue for communicating with the school community. On the few occasions I have missed putting something in I have the children asking me where my “Art Room News” was??? It has hugely increased the recycled donations being given to the Visual Art program which is fantastic!

Art Room News

Art smocks – As at last week’s check there were 206 children from grades P- 6 that do not have an art smock!!!! Was your child one of them???? If you do not want your child’s uniform covered in clay or paint please send an art smock along for your child to use. Waterproof art smocks with long sleeves are best however an old thick winter shirt in an adult size will do an adequate job of covering that expensive uniform.

The Art Room is looking for helpers in 2014. Don’t be shy! You don’t have to book in for the time that your child is in the Art room and you don’t need any special skills, just a willingness to help out, and some time to do it. It will give you the opportunity to experience one of our specialist programs up close! And you might even enjoy yourself!!! Just see Mrs Menhennet for details.

Don’t forget theBLOG –I intended to load up as many Art photos from 2013 as I could over the school holidays but like a lot of good intentions – it just didn’t happen! Hopefully I’ll get some time to do this over the next few weeks as I still have so many photos from the 2013 Art Show to upload.

And did I tell you about the wonderful lady Jascinta from Bondi Junction in NSW that sent me a huge parcel full of old calendars and cards as she saw my plea for them on the blog. She said she was so impressed with the children’s art work that she saw on the blog that she just had to send them! I keep telling you the world of blogging is amazing!

And did I tell you about the wonderful lady Jascinta from Bondi Junction in NSW that sent me a huge parcel full of old calendars and cards as she saw my plea for them on the blog. She said she was so impressed with the children’s art work that she saw on the blog that she just had to send them! I keep telling you the world of blogging is amazing!

Don’t forget to have a look at the cluster map in the side bar of the blog so you can check out where the visitors to the blog are coming from. The children love to do this in the Art Room. The blog is also a great way for you to share your child’s work with friends and relatives that live far away. http://thebackartroomblog.global2.vic.edu.au

nationalgalleryofVictoria –

Melbourne Now is the huge, popular, major exhibition running at the NGV until the 23rd March 2014. This is a free entry exhibition! Did anyone tyake their children in to the Children’s Festival part of the exhibit in January? If you did I would love to hear from you.

. Melbourne Now celebrates the latest art, architecture, design, performance and cultural practice to reflect the complex creative landscape of Melbourne. This ambitious and far-reaching exhibition across The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia and NGV International presents the various ways in which visual artists and creative practitioners profoundly contribute to the society in which we live, and to Melbourne as a city with a unique and dynamic cultural identity. Melbourne Now is a collaborative, cross-disciplinary project that has involved staff from all areas of the NGV, as well as a team of guest curators and artistic collaborators whose expertise and networks represent the excellence and diversity of Melbourne’s cultural community. The exhibition involves more than 175 individual and group presentations, as well as a suite of special projects which extend from the visual arts to architecture and design, dance and choreography, performance art and sound.

The Melbourne Now project is supported by a suite of dedicated publications, including a limited-edition volume, an exhibition guide, a children’s book, and a free ebook, which will be updated over the course of the exhibition. Download the ebook from the App Store or view it online. In addition, a Melbourne Now App has been developed that allows visitors to explore the exhibition and public programs – to plan itineraries, discover multimedia content and find out where and when special events and new activities are happening. Download your free app now.

I’m really looking forward to theItalian Masterpieces from Spain’s Royal Court, Museo del Pradowhich will be the big exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria from 18th May-31August 2014. All grades will be discussing this exhibition and looking at some of the images available through the National Gallery website in second and third term.

DONATIONS

Thank you so much for all the donations to the Art Room that I have had already this year. It seems that I receive bags and boxes full of treasures every day. So far I have received

Calendars

fabric scraps

egg cartons

plastic jars with lids

over runs of printed paper

ice cream containers

christmas and birthday cards

cotton reels

small boxes

assorted pieces of junk for printing

dead CDs

assorted plastic lids

cardboard offcuts

etc, etc, etc.

Please keep all these items coming as they are all utilised in our busy, recycling conscious, art rooms! So many things that you would ordinarily just toss out can be made use of in the Art Rooms.

And can we please have some magazines as our stockpile of them is running a little low?

Thank you to Heidi 2C, Lisha 2NM and Lani 2C who have been the Main Art room LUNCHTIME BOSSES during our lunchtime art sessions on Thursdays over the last few weeks. Thank you for the excellent fulfilment of your duties Heidi, Lisha and Lani, and if you would like a turn being the Main Art Room LUNCHTIME BOSS on Thursday lunchtimes just come and talk to Mrs Menhennet and I will add your name to the list!

BOOKWEEK

We have been enjoying some of the wonderful books shortlisted by the Children’s Book Council of Australia for 2013, in the Art rooms. The Prep children made beautiful sunflowers for PEGGY, by Anna Walker, to follow home! I can’t wait to get them up on display. And just wait until you see the fantastic drawings the grade 1 children have done in response to the Picture Story book of the year – THE COAT by Julie Hunt!

The illustrations by Ron Brooks are wonderful and the children were mesmerised by the fantastic story!

And do you remember last year, we read the gorgeous book, A FOREST, and made a beautiful forest display in the hallway, and I wondered why such a stunning book had been left off the 2012 Picture Book of the Year shortlist??? That was because it was shortlisted for 2013! It is quite an achievement for Marc Martin to be short listed with his first ever picture fiction book!

Link Link to Children’s Book Council Of Australia Book of the Year shortlists

Hi, my name is Amarlea Craig from 2B. On the 23rd of August I went to the “Monet’s Garden” exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. There were lots of people and the gallery was very big. Some of the paintings were big and all of them were magical. My favourite painting was a round painting with water lilies in a golden frame. At the end of the exhibition we sat in a round theatre. It showed footage of Claude Monet’s house and the garden in Giverny from day to night. We saw the different rooms in the house and the garden with lots of trees and plants and the lake with the famous Japanese bridge. It was amazing and very beautiful. There was also a really cool gift shop.

Art room helpers – If you would like to help out in the Art room just come and see me and we will book a time that suits you. You don’t have to book in for the time that your child is in the Art room and you don’t need any special skills, just a willingness to help out, and some time to do it. It will give you the opportunity to experience one of our specialist programs up close! The grade 3 children are hand stitching on paper and fabric at the moment so some extra hands to help with knots and tangles during these sessions would be most appreciated.

Don’t forget the BLOG – Have you left a comment on the Back Art Room Blog lately???

DONATIONS – Thank you for all the donations that keep arriving at the main art room. We love to reuse and recycle! I cut up a pile of mostly yellow printed paper that was donated a while ago and the Prep children used this paper to make their sunflowers. We still need –

NEWSPAPERS

Old calendars

Paint sample cards

Wallpaper offcuts and samples

Old CLEAN toothbrushes (they are great for adding slip to clay joins!)

Hi, I'm Shell, Welcome to the Back Art Room Blog which is about my Visual Arts program and its place in Primary Visual Arts education in Victoria, Australia. I teach Visual Arts at Cambridge Primary School in Hoppers Crossing so here you will find examples of my students amazing artworks, all sorts of things that happen in and around my art room, as well as my thoughts on Visual Arts education and whatever else I can squeeze in! I want to reflect on my own teaching and learning and interact, learn from and be inspired by others.

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